St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-03-05

set. All the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
of surging sorrow can not sfnl> SOUL ina
: has asked for Gods pilotage. aye oln
Guilty is, that when we have misfo"tunes
of any kind, we put them in Gods baud,
and they stay there a little while AMI
then we go and get them again, and bring
them back.
A vessel comes in from a foreign port
AS it comes near the harbor it sees pilot
floating about. 1t halls the pilot The
pilot comes on board and he says:
| "Now, Captain, you have had a stormy
passage. Go down and sleep, and l will
take the vessel into New York harbor."
After awhile the Captain begins to
think:
cam right in trusting this vessel to
that pilots guess I'll go up and see.'
So he comes to the pilot and says:
"Don't you see that rock? Don't YOU
see those headlands! You will wreck the
ship. Let me lay hold the helm for
awhile for myself, and then I'll trust to
you"
The pilot becomes angry and says:
81 will either take care of this ship or
not. If you want to l will get into nv
yawl and go ashore or back to my boat
Now, we say to the Lord
80, God, take my life, take nv all, in
Thy keeping! Be Thou my guide, be Thou
my pilot.
We go along for little while, and sud
| denly wake up and say:
"Things are gong all wrong o, Lord,
we are driving on these rocks and Thou
art going to let US be shipwrecked'
God says: You go and rest. l will take
| charge Of this vessel, and take it into the
| harbor."
Again, remark that all those persons
| play the fool, as certainly as d id this man
| of the text, who allow the technicallties of
religion to stop their salvation David
was wise about a great many things, but
| his cuttings-up in the text for little
while eclipsed his character. And
know wise men and great men
competent for all other stations, who
are acting silly and foolish part in re-
| gard to the technicalities of religion
They ask US some questions which we
| can not answer categorically, and so they
| burst into broad guffaw, as though it is
| of any more interest to US than it ought
| to be to them. About the atonement,
| about Gods DEGREES, about mans destiny,
| they ask great many questions which
we can not answer. and so they deride u.s.
| as though we could not ask them thou
| sand questions that they can not answer,
about their eyes, about their ears, about
| their finger nails, about every thing. A
| fool can ask a question that wise man
| can not answer. o, you caviling men
0, you profound men o, you learned
men, do please admit something. You
have soul! Yes. Will it live forever!
Yes. Where! You say that Jesus Christ
| is not a divine Saviour. Who is he! Where
will you go after you leave your law
md ,nIi
and your club-room, and your newspaper
office-where will you go to? Your body
will be six feet underground Where will
you soul be? The black coat will be off
the shroud on. Those spectacles will be
removed from your vision, for the sod
will press your eye-lids. Have you
any idea that an earthly almanac de-
scribes the years of your lifetime? of
what stuff shall l gather the material for
the letters of that word which describes
your eternal home? Shall it be iron chain
or amaranthine garland! The air that
bestirs the besweated locks of your dying
pillow, will it come off a garden or
desert?
Oh, quit the pulling questions and try
these momentous questions. Quit the |
small questions and try these great ques-
tons. Instead of discussing whether the |
serpent in Eden was fgurative or literal, |
whether the Mediterranean fish did or d id |
not swallow the recreant prophet, whether |
this and thai and the other thing is right !
or wrong, come and discuss the question: |
Glow shall get rid of my sins and win |
Heaven?' That is the questio for you.
Yea, there have been men who have act
ually lost their souls because they thought |
there was discrepancy between Moses
and Prof Si11ima D--haoaNGa thew r011n n ut |
understand how there could be light |
before the sun rose-the light appearing |
in verse three of Genesis, and the un ap-
pearing not until verse sixteen-and be-
cause they do not know how the moon
could stand still without upset
ting the universe, and because |
they had decided upon the theory of |
natural selection. A German philosopher
in dying had for his chief sorrow that he
had not devoted his whole life to the study |
of the dative case. Oh, when your i'm
mortality is in peril, why quibble9 Quit
these non-essentials, my dear brother. In
the name Of God, l ask you in regard to
these matters of the immortal soul that
you do not play the fool
What is that man doing in Bowling
Green, New Yorka Well, he is going in
for ticket for transatlantic voyage.
He is quarreling with the clerk about the
spots-the red spots on the ticket-and he
is quarreling about the peculiar signature
of the president of the steamship COM
pany, and he is quarreling about the man
ner of the clerk who hands him the ticket.
How long has he been standing theres
Three weeks. Meanwhile, perhaps,
twenty steamers have gone out of port
and hear the shrek of the steam tug
that could take him to the last vessel that
could bear him to his engagement in Lon
don. Still he stands in Bowling Green
discussing the ticket.
What do you say in regard to that man?
You say he is fool. Vel l, in that very
way are many men acting in regard to the
matters of the soul. They are cavlling
about the atonement, the red spots on the
tickaE-about the character of the min